Emmy Winner Michaela Coel has become an entertainment juggernaut. Starring in the much talked about series “I May Destroy You” to this month’s highly anticipated Black Panther sequel, Wakanda Forever. We had the pleasure of interviewing Coel at the Shooting Stars event at the Berlinale a few years ago. The multi-hyphenate actress is on the brink of becoming a household name.
The battle over the state of modern cinema took a funny twist recently. Director Martin Scorsese weighed in by saying Marvel Cinematic Universe is not cinema. The backlash was swift. Do not attack a cultural movement. Martin, like so many others in Hollywood, has been left wondering what is his place in the new franchise driven film business. A critics darling, Scorsese has never been a box office magnet. His most successful films drew on the star power of Leonardo DiCaprio.
As his latest film, the acclaimed “The Irishman” premieres for Netflix, the helmer has taken aim at modern cinema. The free market economy does not count when it comes to buying tickets. “Marvel films are theme park attractions”, said Scorsese. Theaters should stop booking hem. According to this logic, as an exhibitor is better to choose “his idea of artistic integrity” over making a billion dollars.
Budgeted at $160 million “The Irishman” has a running time of 209 minutes. Translated; if this were a feature film, there could only be 2 theater screenings per day. It would need to earn $500 million to recoup production costs. Plus, an addition $50 million for marketing and prints costs. Martin Scorsese’s highest grossing film to date: 2006’s “The Departed” with Leonardo Di Caprio earned $291 million. No small wonder why the director had to turn to Netflix for financing his latest mobster film starring frequent creative partner Robert DiNiro. As the economics of the film business shift to even bigger tentpoles, Scorese’s view of cinema has been sidelined.
A filmmaker of the 70’s auteur movement, when studios gave directors autonomy over their work. Scorsese did not move into the blockbuster realm. Nor did he crash out like Coopola, DiPalma, or Bogdanavich. His was a world of dysfunctional characters on tee edge. Even his family friendly work, “Hugo” from 2011, a great look, but a times came across like a puzzle with missing middle pieces. Lacking an emotion. I felt no empathy for the characters. The film lost over $100 million at the box office.
Do not attack a movie genre for being successful. If the theater going public pays $20 per ticket, the film earns $2 billion at global cinemas. That is cinema.
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Inhumans is the latest television series from the Marvel Universe. Created in 1965 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, Inhumans is the story of ruling family and their court on a distant planet split by intrigue and ambition. King Bolt flees to Hawaii because of a successful upraising on his home world, resulting in Earth’s and Attilan’s fates becoming tied together.
Starring Anson Mount as Black Bolt, Iwan Rheon as Maximus, and Serinda Swan as Medusa, the television show will have an exclusive release in IMAX cinemas on August 31st and September 1st before debuting on the ABC Television Network in the United States, September 29th.
Black and Paper sat down in Berlin to speak with Dutch Director Roel Reine after the IMAX screening of some scenes from his new project, Marvel’s Inhuman.
How many episodes were produced for Season 1
8, I directed the pilot and the first episode.
There are two versions of this story, one IMAX and another for TV. Are the two different?
Yes, the same story and structure but the IMAX version will have bigger, wider shots with the scope and framing. It will be the complete experience of a massive screen in the theatre.
Making a television show look like a movie, was that hard?
I specialize in making small budget films look like big budget films. The production schedule was for TV but I used IMAX Cameras for scope techniques.
As a creative person were you intimidated coming to the Marvel World?
I was. The Marvel movies are very successful. Their TV series are diverse. As a creative you feel it on your shoulders. That was the challenge I liked. As a director pressure is a part of the job. Marvel was supportive providing me with a great working environment.
The CG for Medusa’s hair, was this difficult?
It’s tricky. Hair is the most difficult CG element, making it move and the fluidity. Finding the right effects house, then, designing the right shots to tell the story. I designed long takes to show what her hair can do. The continued shot allows the audience to be more involved.
Lockjaw is a CG character, the first on TV. We had a good visual effect house, Double Negative. I had a big foam dog made for the actors and camera crew to interact with during production. It gave them guidance.
What is the series source of the Inhumans?
The source materials are from the comics of 1960’s and 1990’s. The show also draws from the present world; politics, inequality, diversity, Brexit, and Trump in America.
Will Inhumans connect to the Marvel Universe?
The Marvel Universe is surrounded by secrets. The company is protective of it’s properties and tie ins. We have to wait and see.
For more information go to: IMAX.com
Reading over the early reviews Guardians of the Galaxy 2 one expect the filmmakers had the sequel curse that befalls so many follow ups. Sadly, it happened, the first film in the series was a fun but the newest chapter leaves a lot to be desired, “lazy” was a term used to describe the bigger budget Marvel comic superhero saga.
Read Ex Berliner film critic David Mouriquand write up:
Berlinale Day 9
The final day of screenings, the Romanian film Ana, Mon Amour from previous Golden Bear winner Calin Peter Netzer ran for the press in Competition. A complicated psychological love story involving, sex and religion. The narrative structure of the film is complex, flashbacks. It was noted the film was influenced by Bergman’s Scene from a Marriage.
Starring Diana Cavallioti and Mircea Postelnicu as a couple with challenges, the director focused on close ups of the actors to move the story along. There is a lot of nudity along with a strong sex scene, was the sex over the top? The opinions were mixed.
Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, and Director James Mangold arrived at the Berlinale with their new film Logan, another sequel to the Marvel Comics X-Men/Wolverine Series. The latest franchise installment screened out of competition. The applause level was 4/10. After a festival of so many heavy films, it was a relief to see a Hollywood Blockbuster film.
Logan marks the end of the series for star Jackman. He and his team took on a darker tone with the R rated saga with a marked increased level violence and the added ingredient of eleven year old killing machine Laura (Dafne Keen). This was a controversial topic during the press conference. Mangold defended the violence by saying his film was aimed at adults.
I did not see the film but the press room feedback was mostly positive.